British & Irish Lions 2013: Dan Lydiate thrilled to beat Rebels

Dan Lydiate has admitted he was thrilled to mark captaining the British and Irish Lions with a 35-0 victory over Melbourne Rebels.

The tourists took an early lead courtesy of tries from Conor Murray and Sean Maitland, with Owen Farrell proving to be deadly accurate with the boot to leave the half-time score at 14-0.

Warren Gatland’s men further stretched their leads thanks to efforts from Sean O’Brien, Ben Youngs and a penalty try as the Lions underwent the perfect preparation for the second Test.

“We wanted to get the result and keep the momentum going. A lot of the lads missed out from playing at the weekend, so wanted to take their chance,” said Lydiate.

“Warren [Gatland] told us to play well as a team and as an individual and to push ourselves for Test match selection. This is the pinnacle of my career captaining the Lions, made even better getting the result.”

Meanwhile, Sean O’Brien revealed Gatland had urged his starting line-up to put in a performance and throw themselves into contention for the second Test.

“We wanted to put things right tonight [after the defeat last Tuesday] – go out and work hard and play well as a team,” said O’Brien.

“The refereeing in the southern hemisphere is a bit of a grey area. The ref is just going to ref it, so we just have to get on with it.”